Introduction to HTML and CSS
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is used to design web pages using markup language. HTML is the combination of Hypertext and Markup language. Hypertext defines the link between the web pages. Markup language is used to define the text document within tag which defines the structure of web pages. This language is used to annotate (make notes for the computer) text so that a machine can understand it and manipulate text accordingly. Most of markup (e.g. HTML) languages are human readable. Language uses tags to define what manipulation has to be done on the text.
HTML is a markup language which is used by the browser to manipulate text, images and other content to display it in required format. HTML was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. The first ever version of HTML was HTML 1.0 but the first standard version was HTML 2.0 which was published in 1999.
| HTML VERSION | YEAR |
| HTML 1.0 | 1991 |
| HTML 2.0 | 1995 |
| HTML 3.2 | 1997 |
| HTML 4.01 | 1999 |
| XHTML | 2000 |
| HTML 5 | 2014 |
Elements and Tag: HTML uses predefined tags and elements which tells the browser about content display property. If a tag is not closed then browser applies that effect till end of page.
HTML page structure: The Basic structure of HTML page is given below. It contain some elements like head, title, body, … etc. These elements are used to build the blocks of web pages.
<DOCTYPE! html>: This tag is used to tells the HTML version. This currently tells that the version is HTML 5.
<html>: This is called HTML root element and used to wrap all the code.
<head>: Head tag contains metadata, title, page CSS etc. All the HTML elements that can be used inside the <head> element are:
- <style>
- <title>
- <base>
- <noscript>
- <script>
- <meta>
- <title>
<body>: Body tag is used to enclosed all the data which a web page has from texts to links. All of the content that you see rendered in the browser is contained within this element.
Example: HTML page can be created using any text editor (notepad). Then save that file using .htm or .html extension and open that file in browser. It will get the HTML page response.
Features of HTML:
- It is easy to learn and easy to use.
- It is platform independent.
- Images, video and audio can be added to a web page.
- Hypertext can be added to text.
- It is a markup language.
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets, fondly referred to as CSS, is a simple design language intended to simplify the process of making web pages presentable.
CSS handles the look and feel part of a web page. Using CSS, you can control the color of the text, the style of fonts, the spacing between paragraphs, how columns are sized and laid out, what background images or colors are used, layout designs, variations in display for different devices and screen sizes as well as a variety of other effects.
CSS is easy to learn and understand but it provides powerful control over the presentation of an HTML document. Most commonly, CSS is combined with the markup languages HTML or XHTML.
Advantages of CSS
- CSS saves time: You can write CSS once and then reuse same sheet in multiple HTML pages. You can define a style for each HTML element and apply it to as many Web pages as you want.
- Pages load faster: If you are using CSS, you do not need to write HTML tag attributes every time. Just write one CSS rule of a tag and apply it to all the occurrences of that tag. So less code means faster download times.
- Easy maintenance: To make a global change, simply change the style, and all elements in all the web pages will be updated automatically.
- Superior styles to HTML: CSS has a much wider array of attributes than HTML, so you can give a far better look to your HTML page in comparison to HTML attributes.
- Multiple Device Compatibility: Style sheets allow content to be optimized for more than one type of device. By using the same HTML document, different versions of a website can be presented for handheld devices such as PDAs and cell phones or for printing.
- Global web standards: Now HTML attributes are being deprecated and it is being recommended to use CSS. So its a good idea to start using CSS in all the HTML pages to make them compatible to future browsers.
Who Creates and Maintains CSS?
CSS is created and maintained through a group of people within the W3C called the CSS Working Group. The CSS Working Group creates documents called specifications. When a specification has been discussed and officially ratified by the W3C members, it becomes a recommendation.
These ratified specifications are called recommendations because the W3C has no control over the actual implementation of the language. Independent companies and organizations create that software.
NOTE: The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C is a group that makes recommendations about how the Internet works and how it should evolve.
CSS Versions
Cascading Style Sheets level 1 (CSS1) came out of W3C as a recommendation in December 1996. This version describes the CSS language as well as a simple visual formatting model for all the HTML tags.
CSS2 became a W3C recommendation in May 1998 and builds on CSS1. This version adds support for media-specific style sheets e.g. printers and aural devices, downloadable fonts, element positioning and tables.
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